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Dare county CBC weekend (part I)



Hi Carolinabirders,

Sorry I didn't get my rarity reported yesterday; haven't gotten on-line 
until now. Fortunately, Jeff took care of that, so I can go directly into 
yarn-spinning mode... Could somebody from the Records Committee let me 
know if this species warrants a written report? Seems like it's the 5th 
or 6th record for the state.

People who just want the scoop on my Alligator River sightings - 
including finally seeing the Rough-legged Hawk (seems like I was the last 
person in the state who hadn't seen one!) and Short-eared Owl (more of a 
hearing than a sighting) - can skip this message and wait for part II.

Before I get to that... I just read the much-discussed issue of North 
Carolina Afield. Not only is there the article about Harry and Merrill 
and how they got started birding, and the note about John and Paula 
Wright and Eric and Celia Dean and their leadership of field trips, 
there's also an article "Flocking together" about birders and 
conservation which mentions some new TNC tracts of ornithological 
importance, and yet another article about the extinct birds of North 
Carolina. Yes, including Alexander Wilson's encounter with an Ivory- 
billed Woodpecker near Wilmington. Great magazine!

Also:
On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, Ron wrote:
>  
>     This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to see a tropical species
> trying to make a go of it in eastern Piedmont NC. Good birding to all.

Quaker Parrots, aka Monk Parakeets, are actually not tropical. They're 
native, I believe, to southern South America, well down into the southern 
hemisphere's temperate regions. That's why they are so adept at surviving 
in places like Chicago and Rhode Island, both of which have thriving 
populations... The records committee might have to consider the status of 
these birds soon too, if the colony survives.

Anyway, I arrived at Jeff Lewis' house around 11:30 PM Friday night. We 
woke up around 5 AM the next morning for the Kitty Hawk CBC. I started by 
doing my best screech-owl whistle in Jeff's backyard, but only managed to 
call in the neighbor's dog. Then hit the Grits Grill for breakfast as 
soon as it opened at 6 AM. My assigned area was the coastline; Wayne 
Irvin started at the south edge of the count circle, I at the north, and 
we figured to meet in the middle.

Kitty Hawk, alas, is heavily developed, and carpeted with "no 
trespassing" signs. I spent the first hour driving slowly, spotting 
Butter-butts in front yards and vacant lots. I stopped at what appeared 
to be a former mini-golf course that looked promising, including a marshy 
patch with cattails, but was posted like every other bit of property up 
there, and included a sign announcing a Kroger on the way. Why it's so 
important to keep people out of a property that's about to be paved over, 
I can't imagine. I did pish out some Palm Warblers from the sidewalk.

Around 8 AM I finally found a public beach access next to a convenience 
store called "Wink's". I spent most of the next hour counting Northern 
Gannets, which were migrating past on the north wind at a mind-boggling 
pace. I forget the exact number, but in one hour I counted over 1100 
Gannets whizzing by! Most were adults, and virtually all were heading 
south. I checked throughout the day, and the pace didn't slow much until 
nearly sunset; we calculated that, at the pace I recorded, at least 8000 
would have passed for the day. I stopped counting Gannets after the first 
hour, because I was missing too many other birds...

Despite the huge gannet flight, there was disappointingly little else 
flying on the ocean. Every now and then, a trio, pair, or lone sea duck 
would fly past. The only ones I could ID was a trio of Surf Scoters; the 
others went down as "Scoter sp." although any of them could have been 
Harlequins for all I could see of them. No jaegers, despite my searching 
hard for them. No alcids either, and no other pelagic species, despite 
the increasingly ferocious north wind. I saw one bird that I suspect was 
a Northern Fulmar, but it was too far away, and the wind was vibrating my 
optics too much, to be sure.

I commenced wandering down the road from there, stopping to record 
landbirds in vacant lots and occasionally revisit the ocean to confirm 
that gannets were still flooding past in similar numbers. For landbirds, 
found Song and Field Sparrows, a few flocks of Boat-tailed Grackles, and 
the occasional Mockingbird, and of course Yellow-rumps, not much else. 
Saw American Kestrel four times, at least two individuals. Stopped at 
Awful Arthur's for lunch. Never did find Wayne; apparently he moved a 
block or two inland, and so found many more landbirds than I did. I 
returned to the beach, eventually finding a third-winter Lesser Black- 
backed Gull. Also two Sanderlings, my only shorebirds of the day. And 
just before heading to Lee Yoder's house for the compilation, I 
encountered a Merlin patrolling from a lamppost back near the defunct 
mini-golf course, which turned out to be the only one for the count.

After the compilation session, during which we added up all our totals 
for the day, a few of us - including Carolinabirder Amelie Lewis Tuffin, 
whom I'd never met in person before despite our both living in Durham - 
headed to Clara's for dinner. I then collapsed on Jeff's couch until the 
next day, and the inaugural Alligator River NWR CBC...

To be continued...

Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/